'
'You have not forgotten our last visit to Marringhurst?' said Lord
Cadurcis to Venetia, as the comfortable mansion of the worthy Doctor
appeared in sight.
'I have forgotten nothing,' replied Venetia with a faint smile; 'I do
not know what it is to forget. My life has been so uneventful that
every past incident, however slight, is as fresh in my memory as if it
occurred yesterday.'
'Then you remember the strawberries and cream?' said Lord Cadurcis.
'And other circumstances less agreeable,' he fancied Venetia observed,
but her voice was low.
'Do you know, Lady Annabel,' said Lord Cadurcis, 'that I was very
nearly riding my pony to-day? I wish to bring back old times with the
utmost possible completeness; I wish for a moment to believe that I
have never quitted Cherbury.'
'Let us think only of the present now,' said Lady Annabel in a
cheerful voice, 'for it is very agreeable. I see the good Doctor; he
has discovered us.'
'I wonder whom he fancies Lord Cadurcis to be?' said Venetia.
'Have you no occasional cavalier for whom at a distance I may be
mistaken?' inquired his lordship in a tone of affected carelessness,
though in truth it was an inquiry that he made not without anxiety.
'Everything remains here exactly as you left it,' replied Lady
Annabel, with some quickness, yet in a lively tone.
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